Last friday, May the 15th, MySpciyKitchen turned one. I had planned something special for the day but, I could not do it. Last few days I was a little busy with visitors , getting our visas for our vacation next month and also recovering from a fever. I will update my other blog venting about my visa ordeal very soon.

Coming to todays recipe, I have been thinking of cooking collard greens, kale and the chards Indian style for sometime. Two days ago, as I was walking back from the UK consulate, I found a farmers market. During spring and summers, one can find many farmers markets and street vegetable venders all over the city. I was unaware of this particulat farmers market as I do not walk down that side of the city, although it is not very far from where I live. They had many fresh herbs and green vegetables and could not resist buying at least one vegetable from them. Since I was thinking of trying out collard greens, kale and chards for a long time, I picked up a bunch of green chards, thinking it was kale. I also looked at the chards and decided on kale for that day. When I got home, I realized I bought green chards instead of kale. The thing is, I can not differentiate these leafy vegetables and I look at the tag to know which one is which and some how I read the wrong label.

I had no intention on sharing the recipe with you all that day so I just went ahead and cooked it with out paying much attention to the measures of the ingredients I used. Usually when I cook, I don’t measure the ingredients and go with approximate measures. However, when I intend to blog about it or prepare an item for the blog, I make sure I measure the ingredients. On this day, as I was not going to blog this recipe, I did not measure the ingredients. Once I tasted it, I had to share it with you all. I prepared it as I usually cook spinach stir fry and the chards tasted just like spinach and I loved it. If one likes spinach, I think they would love the chards too.

Ingredients:

Oil

1 small Onion chopped

5-6 Green Chilies cut (adjust to taste)

1 ½ – 2 tsp Garlic paste/crushed

½ tsp Chili powder (adjust to taste)

½ tsp Turmeric

Salt to Taste

1 bunch Green Chard chopped

Cooking:

Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions until translucent.

Add garlic and chilies and saute for a minute.

Add turmeric, chili powder and salt and stir well. Add chopped chards and stir well until all the spices and chards and mixed well.

Cover and cook until chard is cooked. This should take about 5 minutes. Use your discretion here. I did not check the time.

Remove the cover and fry for few minutes and serve hot with rice or chapatis.

Note:

This was my first time cooking the green chard at home so I chopped and threw away most of the woody white stalk/stem of this leafy vegetable. I used the small, tender stalk that was close to to the leaf. This stalk/stem after cooking tasted like celery and I think I might use more of the stalk next time prepare it, as long as it is tender.

When preparing this vegetable, keep in mind that just like spinach, even the chard yields very little once cooked.